The work by Giulio Ceradini in explaining the mechanism of semilunar cardiac valve function

Abstract

Using an excised pig heart preparation with tubes, a manometer, and a visualizing apparatus, Giulio Ceradini, an Italian physiologist working in the years of 1871–1872 in Carl Ludwig's famous laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, illustrated the mechanism of closure of the semilunar valves. He was the first to conceive that the closure of the heart valves depends not on a static back pressure nor upon eddies but is primarily the consequence of the decelerated systolic efflux. This pioneer research of Ceradini was first published in German in 1872 ( 4 ). The purpose of the present report is to revisit Ceradini's pioneering experiments and his interpretation of heart valve closure, which remains as true as it was in 1872.